Motorhome essentials – Pre Trip Checks
With this being one of our last real days off before our first season as campsite Wardens ends and we journey off on the long road south. We had a few bits to get done, which got me thinking, so here’s a list of essential things we check on our Motorhome before our Road trips.
If the vehicle hasn’t been started for a while, start the engine and give it a run, just to be sure, even thou we recently went to the NEC and stopped off at Cheltenham for the weekend, Paloma has once again been sat on pitch for the last few weeks. So a short trip around the block to make sure she’s running ok.
Brakes.
Check your brakes and brake fluid
Tyre tread.
Our tyres were ok on our Motorhome-, but during the MOT it was flagged up as an advisory that one of them was not looking its best.
Because we’re about to do a trip over 3 months taking the #longroadsouth , so we’ve chose to replace them before we go – you can read about it Here and which ones we went for !
If your tread is low and you’re about to set off around Europe, consider doing the same.
If you’re going for a couple of weeks and your tread is ok, you should be fine until you get back.
If you’re not sure, ask your local garage, ours is a wealth of knowledge and happily beat the best internet price we could find ! – sometimes it pays to buy local.
Tyre Pressure
Proper air pressure in a tyre helps to distribute the weight of a vehicle evenly across the tyres tread pattern, so the tyre and the motorhome is at its most stable, remember it’s your home as well as car !
When a tyre is under-inflated or over-inflated, it loses stability, negatively affecting handling, cornering, and stopping.
Eventually the tyre will also start to wear unevenly. Under-inflated tires tend to show wear on the outside edges of the tread, while over-inflated tires show wear down the middle of the tread.
Either way, incorrect inflation pressure = uneven wear = tyres that wear out faster = less € in your pocket. As these tyres aren’t cheap.
Windscreen.
Check for chips, cracks or other imperfections.
You may be covered by insurance in Europe, we are but if it cracks completely, it’s going to eat into our holiday time as an alcass motorhome windscreen is unlikely to be in stock.
Lights.
Make sure all your lights, indicators etc are working. It’s scary how many motorhomes and caravans we’ve seen turn up on site with indicators or brake lights which aren’t working correctly, I’ve lost count of the amount of blubs and fuses I’ve given to people this year.
More importantly Don’t give the European police an easy reason to stop you and fine you.
Washer fluid
Obvious I know, but also think about what countries your traveling though, for us it’s winter, so we need a washer fluid that freezes at an extreme low temperature.
Oil and water
Water and anti freeze level in coolant header tank.
Battery
If you are in any doubt about the starter battery or habitation battery, get it checked and replace if necessary again it’s much easier to do in this country, rather than having to search about in a country where your not completely fluent in the language.
Check all the connections are tight, or in our case give a good clean !
GB Sticker
Make sure you have a sticker fixed to the rear of your vehicle or on the number plate
Headlamp adjustments
Because the English drive on the other side of the road to the rest of Europe, our headlights point the wrong way. You need to attach headlight stickers in order to comply with EU law.
wash and a clean
Well you wouldn’t take dirty clothes for you to ware so we weren’t about to let Paloma not look her best.
what a busy day, but it does make the upcoming roadtrip seem very real.
Paul.
Pss – Not Long Now !!